Phoenix Suns guard Mikal Bridges made his case during the 2021-22 NBA campaign as to why he’s more than deserving of winning this season’s Defensive Player of the Year award.
But it’s going to take voters — consisting of sportswriters and broadcasters — looking beyond traditional defensive stats that often favor a center’s candidacy.
Bridges, in an exclusive interview with Yahoo Sports, wants voters to dig deeper.
“I would never discredit anybody, and obviously bigs have been winning that award for a while and they do a hell of a job, but the amount of times a big has won over a guard is just crazy,” Bridges told Yahoo Sports. “I think people take it for granted how tough it is to guard the top perimeter players in this league and not be able to really touch them because they’re going to get the foul call. I feel like as a defender on the perimeter, you just get disrespected. I’m not even talking about me personally, but I don’t understand how guards in general don’t win it. These guards are shooting off ball screens, they get isos with the offense spaced out and a lot of shooters on the court. You’ve got to guard these matchups one-on-one, and I think we just get taken for granted.”
Bridges, 25, has traveled the most distance on defense of anyone this season, he’s seventh in defensive win-shares (3.7) which has contributed to the Suns’ 106.7 defensive rating that trails only the Boston Celtics (106.2), and he’s in the 99th percentile of the most difficult defensive matchups assigned.
He’s always available and holds the longest active streak of 307 consecutive games played.
Furthermore, there are no slow nights for the fourth-year veteran. He goes from guarding Luka Doncic, to Ja Morant, to LeBron James, to Stephen Curry, to Damian Lillard to Donovan Mitchell on a nightly basis. His willingness to handle the toughest assignment is a critical component to why the Suns possess the league’s best record at 63-17.
Golden State…